Google Fraudsters Must Pay $17 Million (continued) by AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

"We must give consumers the reassurance that they can browse the Internet safely and securely. My office will continue to protect New Yorkers from any attempts to deliberately expose their personal data."

The statement said Google altered its coding to circumvent privacy settings on Safari, without consumer'â€™ knowledge or consent.

Google also agreed not to deploy the type of code to override a browserâ€™s cookie blocking settings in the future without consent unless it is needed to detect or prevent fraud or security issues.

A Google spokesperson confirmed the agreement and said in a statement: "We work hard to get privacy right at Google and have taken steps to remove the ad cookies, which collected no personal information, from Apple's browsers. We're pleased to have worked with the state attorneys general to reach this agreement."